In Alberta, few things are 100 years old. After all, the province is just 107. But the Calgary Stampede, which begins tomorrow, is celebrating its centennial in 2012, so the 10 days of cowboy hats and pancake breakfasts will be especially festive this year. Every town wants an annual fair, no matter how contrived. As […]

You could be forgiven for thinking you’d walked into a rowdy bachelor party instead of an election — one day after the writ was dropped in Alberta, the conversation thus far has focused on booze and hookers. The alcohol issue has been boiling over for some time — ever since Alison Redford, a.k.a. Premier Mom, […]

A decade ago, a full day of parking in downtown Calgary cost a mere $8. Not any longer. The city now boasts the second-highest parking rates in North America, averaging $472.50 a month. The price increase stems largely from heavy development in the downtown core and beltline areas, where parking lots are rapidly being turned […]

The newest downtown office building now rises above all others, the crescent-shaped building called The Bow. When completed next year, civic leaders intend it to be more than a symbol of Calgary’s economic power. The hope is that it will lead a revitalization of the east side of downtown, where a new office tower hasn’t […]

What is art? It may be an unanswerable question, except if you’re the City of Calgary. In that case, the answer is easy: art is a rule to be obeyed. That’s why the city is obliged to buy precisely $1.6 million worth of uncontroversial artwork and then must place it in a tunnel that runs […]